The present disclosure relates to a waste ink storage mechanism which includes a waste ink tank for storing a waste ink exhausted from a recording head that discharges an ink to a recording medium such as a sheet and an inkjet recording device which includes such a waste ink storage mechanism.
As a recording device such as a facsimile, a copying machine or a printer, an inkjet recording device which discharges an ink so as to form an image is widely used because the inkjet recording device can form a high definition image.
In the inkjet recording device described above, for example, it is likely that the linearity of the ink is degraded (curved travel course) or the discharge thereof is prevented such that the printing performance of a recording head is lowered. As a cause of this problem, the occurrence of a meniscus abnormality can be considered, and the meniscus abnormality occurs because a foreign substance such as paper powder, dirt or dust produced when a sheet (recording medium) is transported, minute ink droplets (hereinafter referred to as a mist) discharged together with ink droplets for image recording or a mist scattered when the ink droplets are adhered to the recording medium is adhered to the ink discharge surface of a recording head. Moreover, as a cause of this problem, the lowering of sealing at the time of fitting of a cap as a result of a mist being adhered to a place where the cap is fitted so as to be dried and an increase in the viscosity of the ink within a nozzle resulting therefrom can also be considered.
Hence, a configuration is known in which in order to prevent the drying of the ink within a discharge nozzle where an opening is provided in the ink discharge surface of the recording head and the clogging of the nozzle resulting from an increase in the viscosity of the ink within the discharge nozzle, after the ink is forcefully pushed out (purged) from the nozzle, the purged ink adhered to the ink discharge surface (nozzle surface) is wiped away with a wiper and thus restoration processing on the recording head is performed.
A configuration is also known in which after a cleaning liquid is supplied to the ink discharge surface of the recording head, the ink discharge surface is wiped while the cleaning liquid is being held with the wiper and thus the restoration processing on the recording head is performed.
Since a waste ink is produced when the restoration processing described above is performed on the recording head, in the inkjet recording device, a waste ink tank for storing the waste ink is provided. When the waste ink tank is full, it is necessary to replace it with a new (empty) waste ink tank, and thus in the inkjet recording device, a detection sensor for detecting a liquid surface within the waste ink tank is provided. As the detection sensor, there are an electrode type, a float type and the like, and with consideration given to the exchangeability of the waste ink tank, the detection sensor is preferably installed outside the waste ink tank.
In the inkjet recording device described above, a configuration can be considered in which the detection sensor is arranged in a part of a waste ink tank fitting portion into which the waste ink tank is fitted on a downstream side (back side) in a direction of fitting of the waste ink tank, and in which in a side surface (back surface) of the waste ink tank on the downstream side in the direction of the fitting, an inflow port through which the waste ink flows in is provided. In this configuration, the waste ink tank is fitted into the waste ink tank fitting portion, and thus the downstream end of a waste ink passage path is coupled to the inflow port of the waste ink tank and the detection sensor is arranged close to the back surface of the waste ink tank.